Throughout the month of April, the financial markets were hit by stronger-than-expected inflation readings. The effect was a pushing back of expectations for interest rate reductions by the Federal Reserve, and a pullback of prices for stocks and bonds.
Large company US stocks, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, dropped by 4% in April. Year-to-date, US stocks are in the black by 5.9%.
Small company US stocks fell by 6.5% last month and are up a marginal 0.5% so far in 2024. Foreign stocks declined by 3.25% in April, and thus far in 2024 have gained 2.5%.
The jump in Treasury bond yields in April by somewhere between 0.2 and 0.45 percentage points, depending on the maturity, translated to a fall in bond prices.
For the month, the Bloomberg Aggregate Bond Index, the main benchmark for US investment-grade bonds, fell by 2.5%. Year-to-date, bonds have declined by 3.2%.
Below is a summary of April returns:
US Stocks = S&P 500 Index; US Bonds = Bloomberg US Aggregate Bond Index
-RK